FMTSO: What Light's up your town?

It's been awhile since I've posted and I've been feeling the pull to come back for some time now. My desire for going out and taking fresh photos with my camera is still lacking, however, I do take lots of photos with my phone.  I will be posting some archived photos for this weeks FMTSO theme, and since it's close to Christmas, I will be posting images that convey the Christmas spirit, the winter holiday, etc.

This photo was taken in 2012 and is a photo of a Christmas village.

It looks better in black and white because I forgot to adjust the white balance on the camera before aiming.

A sunburst of natural light.

This is at the Resort at Mt. Charleston.

The same area where the sunburst was shining, only this was taken from inside the resort.

These photos were taken with my phone just over a week ago.

Playing with fire.

This was taken in March of this year with one of my photography groups that I belong to.

Wrong time of day for a photo shoot!

All of these photos were taken in outlying areas of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Gosh, I kind of feel inspired to get out there and start taking more pictures.

Thank you all for viewing my participation.

I appreciate you stopping by.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

Learn and Grow Your Photography

Learn and Grow

By JarieLyn Robbins

 

Have you ever thought about taking your photography skills to a higher level but didn’t know where to begin?

If you are new to the Nevada Camera Club, Congratulations!

You have taken the first step to becoming a better photographer.

Those who have been members for a while know the value of attending program meetings, competitions, field trips and workshops.

They are already reaping the benefits.

If you don’t believe me, just look at the quality of photos that are being entered every month.

Nevada Camera Club is a wonderful place to learn and grow.

In addition to the Nevada Camera Club there are many resources available to photographers of all skill levels.

 If you are a student or prospective student who dreams of a successful career in photography, there is a wonderful on-line resource that has an abundance of information about available photography programs.

This web site allows you to browse by school type, category, type of degree and by state.

There is also a comprehensive guide to Professional Photographer Associations.

The reason I endorse this website is because it also lists an array of competitions that you can enter.

For example, there is a current photography contest that is sponsored by Army Magazine which is open to amateur and professional photographers.

 First prize is $500.00 and second prize is $300.00.

So, even if you aren’t interested in getting a photography degree, it’s worth a browse.

It’s not just for students and prospective students.

It’s for any photographer who wants to learn and grow no matter what your skill level.

You might find an international or local association that you never knew existed, or you might find a photography competition that is screaming your name.

What have you got to lose?

Check it out at www.PhotographyDegree.com

A handwritten letter from Betty White.

FMTSO: From The Ground Up

I absolutely love this week's theme for the Friday My Town Shoot Out.  I cheated though because I didn't actually go out this week and take photos.  These come from my archives and were taken last September while I was on vacation, so they are not actually from my town but they are still my photos in different towns.

Galvastan, Texas.

Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.

A block wall with horses painted on it.  Again, in Amarillo, Texas.

Well that's it for this week.

The day's come and go so fast anymore that Friday is here before I can even blink.

Hopefully, next week I'll have some fresh photos for the theme.

Join the gang or check out other participants here.

FMTSO: The Five Senses

Happy Friday!  Today's theme is the five senses.  I picked out several photos for the theme but in the end I just didn't think they were good enough so instead I will post just one picture which represents all five of my senses.

 

First, I SEE it, then I TOUCH it, then I SMELL it then I TASTE it and then everyone around me can HEAR me say Mmm Mmm good as I devour my sweet treat using all of my senses.

 

 

Last Friday, while out of town,  I scoured Los Angeles and Hollywood for graffiti for FTSO and I found some, but unfortunately, I never made it to the computer, so I will share my graffiti with you now.

 

 

 

 

 

My sister up at the top to the right and her friend Julie on the left.

 

 

 

And lastly, a not to subtle message.

 

 

 

Have a great weekend everyone!



FMTSO: Machinery

Hello Friday Group! 

I'm a bit late posting and I'm digging into my archives once again but I did not want to miss this theme.

 

 

This is an oscillograph at the Clark County Museum.

 

 

An Intertype.

 

 

 

A book binding press.

 

I thought these were interesting machines, especially the intertype.

 

For those of you not familiar with the Friday My Town Shoot Out, I urge you to visit the home page by clicking here, which is also where you will find the links to view other participants take on this theme.

 

Have a great weekend.

FMTSO: Sweets

Sweets!

That is the theme for the Friday My Town Shoot Out.

I have been eating a lot of sweets lately.

I should have been photographing them instead of eating them.

I did manage to photograph some cookies that I bought at the store yesterday.

 

 

These are the most delicious sugar cookies I've ever tasted.

They are so lemony good.

 

Here's one from the archives.

This is when I first bought my SLR camera, before I even joined my camera club.

I think I've posted it before but since it's really sweet, I thought it deserved another post.

 

 

 

Well I could have really taken advantage of this week's theme as many sweets as I eat.

 

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend.

I'm off to the post office.

 

Click here to see more mouth watering sweets from other participants.

 

FMTSO on Sunday.

Well, by the time anyone reads this post it will be Monday all ready.

I'm linking up with the Friday My Town Shoot Out, a couple of days late but I still wanted to participate.

 It was a busy week-end for me so I only have two shots for this week's theme which is the letter your town begins with and in my case it would be the letter L for Las Vegas.

Yesterday, I was out and about at a huge craft festival and that's where I photographed two items that begin with the letter L.

 

 

Both photos were taken with my phone.

 

 

These are luggage tags.

They look large in the photo, however, they are the average luggage tag size.

 

That's it for show, but I really had a great time at the craft fair.

I also got a psychic reading while there and it was fun.

 

FMTSO: Through Glass

Friday My Town Shoot Out: Today's theme is Through Glass.

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to try a lensbaby lens while at a workshop.

Here is a shot through a glass window that also shows a reflection.

Here are some photos from my archive.

Rain splatter on the window of a boat.

Ah, the rain stopped. Looking through the window of a boat.

Road to Tombstone, AZ.

Me in the mirror.

Through The Glass

Click the above link to see some awesome photos taken through glass.

FMTSO: White on White

Happy Friday!

It's raining here in Las Vegas today and I am actually enjoying it.

Today's theme for the Friday My Town Shoot Out is White on White.

Here is my take on the theme. I hope you like it.

This is a photo of some sushi sitting on a white plexi-glass being used as the table and background.

I took this photo at one of my meet-up photography workshops last year when we were learning about food photography.

An egg sitting in a white bowl that's sitting on a white plate sitting on another white plate.

It looks like snow but it is actually sand.

I took this photo last September in White Sands, New Mexico.

The sign up ahead says sunset stroll starts here.

Looking back and leaving the sands behind.

Please check out the rest of the participants in the Friday Town Shoot Out Group.

It's candy to your eyes.

Thanks for stopping by.

Midweek Mail Check

I guess I got a little distracted last week and forgot to publish my post on Friday until earlier today.

:)

I've been getting a lot of postcards from postcrossing and swap-bot but I haven't received any letters

from any of the persons I wrote to for LetterMo except the ones I've already showed you, which really was about a 15th of what I sent out.

 Do I sound ungrateful for saying I'm a bit disappointed? I hope not. I'm just mentioning it because I'm wondering if you all had the same experience or did all or most of your letters get reciprocated? I'm just curious.

 I enjoyed writing the letters nonetheless and it was a fun challenge.

 

 

Original artwork and poem by me! (2009)

 

 

Now on to the mail!

 

Here's what has been delivered to me the past few days including today.

 

A Postcard from Bulgaria.

This is for a swap I joined awhile back called I Love Postcards #3.

 



A Postcrossing from good ol' US of A.

This is personally one of my favorites that I've received so far.

The sender writes:

Here is a vintage funny postcard for you that I found @ the local Raleigh, NC farigrounds/flea market.

:)

Crystal.

 

 

This is from a Group  Swap on Swap-Bot, Quick Notecard Swap #3

The cards are really cute in person.

I do like them a lot.

 

This amazing mini journal for another swap, One Sentence A Day February.

I was blown away by the creativity of the person who made this.

I have to share some of the inside with you as well.

 

 

This precedes the actual journal writing.

So cute, don't you think?

 

 

At the end of the journaling, this little surprise was sewn into the pages.

Lift it up............

 

 

To reveal a secret compartment with a treasure hidden inside.

 

 

A very nice bottle and key pendant and I love it.

The creativity of the maker of this journal has me in awe and I am so appreciative of this gift, not just the pendant tucked inside, but the love that went into making this journal.

So nice.

 

 

I love postcards with images of dogs.

This one is so sweet.

This is a postcrossing from the Netherlands.

The sender writes:

Hi JarieLyn,

Do you have examples of your mail art and snail mail.

I don't know what it means.

I try to do some scrapbooking besides being wife and mother of 2 sons.

My sons are 5 and 3 years old.

It's busy but fun most of the time.

Wish you the best.

Regards,

Grietje

 

Another Postcrossing from USA

(it is a resend because his first one never arrived)

The sender writes:

Hi JarieLyn,

I scanned the card begore I sent it to you so I printed it and hope yo liike it.

Best wishes from your Postcrossing friend-David.

(Lost Card)

 

I love the stamps too.

Notice that the postoffice didn't cancel the stamps.

Oh no, they had to put their little cancellation mark on the front of the card.

Ugh!

 

 

These lovely postcards came from another swap, Postcard Scavenger Hunt.

My favorite one is the black and white gallows and the other sepia toned one.

 

 

A PC A Day Swap.

My husband and I actually went here two years ago while on vacation so I was glad to receive this postcard because I don't have any from that vacation.

 

 

I received one of Julie's (La Papiere) postcards from a swapper for PC A Day Swap.

It's pretty cool because I ordered some envelopes from La Papier not too long ago and this was the sstyle that I ordered.

 

I have several more postcards, at least five but I'm not going to photograph them because you might get impatient scrolling through my blog post.

 

But I will post my outgoing now:

 

 

I finallly joined a Round Robin on the Postcrossing forum.

This is a march postcard pals.

I send one pc to 3 different people once a week in March.

I thought it would be easier to send them all the same card.

These are headed to Russia, The Netherlands, and Estonia.

 

 

These are for the Quick Note Card Swap, two partners.

 

 

I believe this is for the 3 card swap USA.

 I forgot to take a photo of the cards inside.

 

 

The mini journal swap.

Again, I forgot to photograph my handy artwork.

But compared to the one I received mine pales in comparison.

 

 

A Postcrossing on its way to Russia.

 

 

A Postcrossing on its way to New Jersey.

 

 

A Postcrossing on its way to Germany.

 

 

 A Postcrossing on its way to South Africa.

 

 

Fast & Easy Notecard Swap.

Also the front of the envelope of my original artwork and poem.

 

 

A Postcrossing card on its way to Turkey.

 

One of my pen pals had a birthday recently, (I guess it's been a month already)  so I will be wrapping up a small gift and writing a long letter to her tonight.

 

And tomorrow............

 

more pen pal letters to write.

 

Oh, happy days are here again.